Cellular phones are becoming the only home phones in an increasing number of U.S. households, a trend intensified by challenging economic conditions. The percentage of “wireless-only” phone use continues to grow on a national level. For example, a recent report found that 17.5% of U.S. homes had only wireless telephones during the first half of 2008—nearly 3 percentage points greater than the estimate for 2007 (14.7%). The percentage of adults using only wireless phones also grew from 13.6% in 2007 to 16.1% in the first half of 2008. More than one in four U.S. homes, or 26.6%, had only a wireless phone as of June 2010, up from 13.6% in 2007. In fact, the percentage of wireless-only homes increased in every state, ranging from 35.2% in Arkansas to 12.8% in Rhode Island and New Jersey.
As the inventors hereof have recognized, however, numerous correctional facilities do not allow inmates to place calls to cell phones. Hundreds of thousands of call attempts to cell phones are blocked every month due to policies that do not allow such calls. Moreover, when mobile calls are in fact allowed, these correctional facilities typically require the called party to go through a registration process, open an account, provide billing name and address, as well as a phone bill or the like.
The inventors hereof have also recognized that these policies have been implemented, at least in part, due to security concerns. Even at facilities requiring a cell phone registration procedure, similar concerns remain. For example, when the called party is operating a wireless device, the facility's administration does not generally know where that party is physically located. Many escapes occur each year as a result of an inmate coordinating with an outside accomplice on their cell phone. In addition, drugs or other paraphernalia may be smuggled into correctional facilities when an inmate calls someone on their cell phone who is waiting in the facility's parking lot, the inmate is using the phone in the recreation yard, and the accomplice on the outside throws the drugs or the like over the fence.